The Wit of the Wild 



r 



alert for the breakfast soon to be tossed to 

 him. 



Other gulls would come, too, but none would 

 ever approach so near as Dick, although even 

 he never alighted upon the vessel nor allowed 

 himself to be handled. He liked boiled pork 

 best, but did not object to fish ; and it was amaz- 

 ing to see the famished eagerness with which, 

 in the first few days of the season, the bird 

 would eat, gulping down whole six or eight 

 pieces each the size of a hen's egg. 



I am sorry to say that this voracity was not 

 altogether hunger, but partly greediness; for 

 Dick would usually do his best to keep any 

 other gull in the neighborhood from getting 

 not only what was meant for him, but morsels 

 thrown to his companions, " making the great- 

 est possible fuss," says the captain, " if one 

 of the other gulls attempted to secure an occa- 

 sional piece." Once, he relates, Dick seized an 

 aggressive rival by the neck and tore out its 

 feathers until the poor creature was glad to get 

 away with his life. 



This, I fear, is a way the gulls have all over 



